Drove 50 miles to the family lake house in an ice storm. Upon arrival, moved vehicles out of the 2-car garage, put my truck in catty-corner (so it'd fit), and fired up a 50,000-80,000 btu propane heater to raise the ambient garage temperature enough to thaw the ice off my truck. I then spent two hours periodically sweeping ice and water out of the garage. I should be able to work on the truck, tomorrow, despite the cold and ice, now.

Let's see, today I replaced the map lights with (a pair of) Putco 280003W Type T white LED stick bulbs -- which resolved a problem I was having with my previous no-name 5-LED map lights. Next I applied dielectric grease to the auxiliary battery terminals and lugs since I'm done working on them, for now. Last, I fashioned an overhead console faceplate for my toggle switches and air pressure gauge ... and then confirmed a good fit for the set. I'm pleased with the results... but not so much with the 4ish hours of painstaking measurement and dremel time.

Thanks! As far as making one -- the materials alone (including the digital gauge, the switches, and the back plate) are a few hundred bucks. And that doesn't include things like wire, solder, and my time.

Crafted 3-lead pigtail for Homelink system using F disconnects to allow mating with M connector on +12v, dim, and grnd wires from harness

Connected +12v IGN wires from the four aforementioned connectors, the Odyssey gauge, and the Homelink system together and added a lead with a M disconnect to allow mating with F connector on a +12v IGN wire from in-cab fuse box

Connected dimmer wires from the four aforementioned connectors, the Odyssey gauge, and the Homelink system together and added a lead with a M disconnect to allow mating with F connector on a +12v dimmer wire from a tap at the dimmer switch in the cab

Connected common ground wires from the four aforementioned connectors, the Odyssey gauge, and the Homelink system together and added a lead with a M disconnect to allow mating with F connector on a common ground crafted near the in-cab fuse box

Wiring work:

Tapped the +12v IGN fuse at the in-cab fuse box and ran a lead with a F connector to the overhead console; connected to appropriate M connector on custom harness

Tapped the +12v dimmer wire at the dimmer switch in the cab and ran a lead with a F connector to the overhead console; connected to appropriate M connector on custom harness

Crafted a common ground near the in-cab fuse box and ran a lead with a F connector to the overhead console; connected to appropriate M connector on custom harness

Crafted and marked three horn leads with F connectors for future HORN relay work

connected appropriately at overhead console

routed through firewall

stored/secured three 20' coils for later work

Crafted and marked sending unit lead with F connector for future Odyssey air pressure gauge work

connected appropriately at overhead console

routed through firewall

stored/secured 20' coil for later work

Crafted and marked COMPRESSOR relay trigger lead with F connector for future air compressor work

connected appropriately at overhead console

routed through firewall to custom Bussmann relay box

connected to appropriate trigger wire lead on Bussmann box

Crafted and marked FRONT LIGHTS relay trigger lead with F connector for future front LED work

connected appropriately at overhead console

routed through firewall to custom Bussmann relay box

connected to appropriate trigger wire lead on Bussmann box

Crafted and marked REAR LIGHTS relay trigger lead with F connector

incorporated a 3amp diode to prevent current flow from the reverse circuit (once connected)

tapped the reverse circuit at the BCM and incorporated a 3amp diode to prevent current flow from the relay trigger wire (once connected)

connected the reverse circuit lead to the REAR LIGHTS relay trigger wire

tested to make sure both diodes were working properly to prevent current

connected appropriately at overhead console

routed through firewall to custom Bussmann relay box

connected to appropriate trigger wire lead on Bussmann box

Checked to make sure bumper-mounted Dually D2's were activated when REAR LIGHTS toggle switch was on

Checked to make sure bumper-mounted Dually D2's were activated when vehicle was placed in reverse

Checked to make sure REAR LIGHTS toggle switch and reverse circuit were not interfering with one another

Overhead console assembly:

Removed gauge and toggle switches from toggle switch plate

Further trimmed toggle switch plate since the full-length overhead console openings are smaller than the mini-overhead console

Installed toggle switch plate into GRAY full-length overhead console and applied black silicon adhesive to back side to prevent possible vibrations/rattling when the stereo is cranked up

Installed switches and gauge into switch plate after adhesive was sufficiently cured

Connected the connector housings and pigtails described in the 'overhead wiring harness prep' section, above, to the appropriate toggle switches, gauge, and Homelink

Checked proper function of toggle switches, gauge, and Homelink

Installed GRAY full-length overhead console in truck

Notes:

All M/F terminals soldered and heat shrunk

All M/F connections wrapped in black electrical tape and then wrapped again in colour-coded electrical tape that matched the colour-coding of my wires

All wires labeled at strategic location just in case I don't remember my colour coding N years from now

I -DID NOT- take pics of this detailed work during the process, as there's nothing sexy about wire bundles, soldered connections, etc. Besides, this was already slow enough ... I can't imagine slowing it down more with pics.

Another novel by @SurrealOne. LOL
I can't wait to see this panel installed.

Click to expand...

I've been doing double work duty, today, to catch up on critical deliverables for Wednesday, so still no pics. (Sorry, pics take a back seat to work, especially if doing a double, today, means I don't have to burn a discretionary day for Monday!)

The LEDs are bright enough that even when dimmed at the level I like they're still very visible from outside the cab at night -- through my ludicrously dark rear window tint. I hadn't really considered that, but when I was unloading the bed Monday night and noticed it ... it made me smile. It'll be even cooler when I turn the gauge on. (It's programmed but I have all leads to it disconnected because if the sending unit is not in place it reads ERR, which is annoying!)

I don't know how well this will photograph at night, so I'm thinking perhaps we do another local GTG after I have my twin 10" LED bars installed up front -- nevermind that it's a good excuse for a beer.